


he had fallen in love

by jonphaedrus



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-14
Updated: 2012-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-21 20:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30027711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonphaedrus/pseuds/jonphaedrus
Summary: Sometime during the time when they had been asleep, Hwan had unconsciously rolled closer to Reza, and the Firebender had let him.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	he had fallen in love

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Lovers That Went Wrong](https://archiveofourown.org/works/480729) by [Lapin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lapin/pseuds/Lapin). 



> repost of fic originally only ever posted on tumblr, the lnk to which is now defunct.

"You don't really need a Firebender to heat these," Reza said, half-smiling in his voice, as he took the bricks Hwan kept handing him, heating them up in his good hand before Hwan set them under the folded blanket he had at the foot of the bed just for this purpose.

February was unusually cold this year. Cold enough that the radiator's heating system in the house, ran off of a bit of old piping, had shut down. Nobody was happy. Everybody had someone in bed tonight—except Hwan, who had Reza.

"You could just take them down the kitchen."

"Well, you're here, and they'll stay warmer longer." Hwan put the last hot brick into his sheets and then pulled out several more layers of blankets over the top, tucking them in at the edge before he pressed in the corners of the towel covering the windows and tugged the curtains and blinds closed, rubbing his arms. Even in the room, with Reza able to keep it warm, it was cold. And he was wearing his warmest robe.

Speaking of the Firebender, the man was watching him with a curious expression—a half smile that was more bemusement than anything as he undid the haphazard knot on his queue, loosening it while Hwan toed off his house slippers (he kept on the thick woollen socks that he had convinced Amon to show him where to get in the city) and curled up in bed.

This was his favourite robe for the winter, flannel and warm and soft, ad he was still pretty cold. Tugging up the blankets, he wiggled deep. Even Reza hadn't complained about their sleeping arrangements this time—he was cold too.

"Aren't you from Ba Sing Se?" The older man asked, shucking his outer shirt, revealing the terrible scarring down and around his bad side, up his arm, the tattoos that covered his unburned skin. He slept shirtless, even in the cold—Firebenders, Hwan had heard, were always hot. Something about the heat inside them. He could believe it, sharing a bed with one on a regular basis. "Doesn't it get pretty cold there?"

"It rarely snows—we're in too low a region. It happened more in Omashu, but not like here. It's because of the bay, it gets so damn cold." Clenching his teeth, pressing his feet against the bricks, Hwan watched as Reza slid into the other side of the bed, laying on his good side, facing Hwan, keeping weight off of the scars, his eyepatch still on, watching the younger man intently. Just like he always did. "I don't know how you can stand it shirtless."

"I'm a furnace, remember?" Reza was nearly laughing—at him, Hwan realised. not with him. He scowled unattractively and didn't care. "It'll get warm fast. Seriously, you're going to be complaining about all those bricks in the morning."

Hwan tugged the blankets up to his nose, scowled more, and determined that he would not be.

It had to have been somewhere around four in the morning when Hwan woke up. It wasn't the start you got from a dream but the ease that came from going from light sleep to consciousness. One moment his eyes were closed and he was asleep and then his eyes were open and he was awake.

Hwan was very warm. And the air around him was very cool—he glanced toward the windows and could see why, the towel had come loose and the glass was giving off freezing cold air. He was also further from the window than he had started—and it took him a moment to figure out why.

The thing under his shoulder was not his pillow. It moved too much, for one thing, rising and falling. There was a hand tossed over his waist as well, not his own, leeching slow heat into his skin where his robe was rucked aside. The bricks had cooled down all the way too.

Not that he needed it.

Sometime during the time when they had been asleep, Hwan had unconsciously rolled closer to Reza, and the Firebender had let him near, and now he was curled against the man's side, head pillowed in the hollow of his good shoulder, nose pressed against the muscle of his chest, breathing on his skin. The hand on his hip was Reza's, the palm against his hipbone warm. Hwan had even wrapped one arm around his chest, fingers curled over scarred skin, his other pressed between the two of them, trapped against his own chest.

Suddenly, Hwan felt too hot. His face burned and his throat felt tight. He tried to shift back but Reza was out pretty cold and seemed not at all interested in shifting. His hand on Hwan's waist pulled him a bit closer, and Hwan let out a shaking breath, closed his eyes. He tried pushing back again.

It was like trying to extract himself out from under a giant, slightly snoring, very hot and very heavy blanket. Stilling himself, Hwan let out a slow breath. If he woke the other man up he would be beyond upset and embarrassed—and it wasn't like he was uncomfortable.

Just the opposite, actually. Warm. Very warm. The perfect temperature. And comfortable, too. Reza made a nice pillow, for as scarred and muscled as he was. The rate of his breathing was soothing, and the way he gave off heat—it made Hwan tired.

Without meaning to, when a gust of cool air blew over his skin, he shifted closer, curled up more against the man's side, slid one leg under Reza's, and found himself pulled a little bit nearer—hot breath ruffling his hair, scarred palm holding tighter to the cool skin of his hips. The blankets were heavy and warm, and Hwan closed his eyes, turned his face more into the man's shoulder. 

He felt safe. And it felt so weird to think it, too. Safe and warm and—happy. Comfortable. Reza held him in his sleep like nobody had ever held him in any way before, ilk ehe was something worthwhile. Something to be protected, cared for.

And then all of a sudden Hwan had a realisation.

He had fallen in love.


End file.
